Lock of the Heart
by Double
Summary: Hisoka loved strong opponents, but would never take on Illumi. If thrills and battles were all that Hisoka looked for in life, did that mean he was of no importance at all? If so, he would have Hisoka's attention, even if it meant killing Gon. Hiso x Illu
1. Chapter 1

**Locks of the Heart - Chapter 1**

There were some jobs the Zoldick family would not accept. Most of the time, it was because the risk was too high, and it did not seem profitable at all to put their lives on the line even if the paycheck had ten digits on it.

However, this time, the reason was a little bit different.

Silva Zoldick stared at the target description, and wondered if this new client was purposefully trying to challenge the Zoldick family's tolerance. Smiling up at him from the picture in the profile was a cheerful face he distantly remembered as the only kid who could step onto the Zoldick grounds and still survive. The ray of sunshine that lit up his son's face.

Gon Freeces.

Why in the world would someone want to kill such a bright and harmless child was beyond Silva, and he had no intention to ponder further, nor entertain the idea of going up against his own son.

Tossing the profile into the box marked "Unsuitable", he went on with sifting through the pile of new job requests that would probably keep his family busy for the next six months.

......................................................

"What are you planning on doing, now that you've fought with Kuroro?" Illumi asked listlessly, glancing sideways at the magician sprawled languidly beneath the apple tree. Hisoka looked chirpy enough on the outside, only that there wasn't a trace of nen to be felt on him, and Illumi knew that it wasn't because he was purposely hiding his aura.

He had probably used it all in the battle last night against the Genei Ryodan leader. Illumi thought back to the state he found the man in last night, and had to admit that Hisoka couldn't have looked worse. Or better.

Opposed to his haggard appearance, the gleam in his eyes shone with a satisfaction Illumi had never seen on him before. No craziness or thirst for blood, and for once Hisoka looked like a person, at peace with whatever he was given.

And Illumi also saw Machi, the girl patching up wounds for both sides. Her skills with needles and nen threads were truly admirable, although he lost all appreciation when he spotted Hisoka looking at her with similar hint of admiration.

He almost turned to leave on the spot, and to hell with Hisoka and all his money.

Why Hisoka hired him just to fetch him after battle, when he could walk off unscathed after Machi's treatment was beyond Illumi.

"Nothing much, maybe take a vacation, then start stalking the next interesting item on my list." The magician's eyes narrowed into slits, and flicked out a card from the empty air. A small apple on the ground two meters away split open in half.

"You mean that kid with Killu, Gon, was it?" Illumi murmured, drawing up the image of the boy in his memory cabinet. "What's so fun about stalking people just to fight them? I have no idea why you would want to sacrifice so much of your time only to earn a battle like last night." He asked in mild curiosity. Illumi understood the need to kill, certainly when he's doing that for a living, but the want to kill? That had always puzzled Illumi, and he had often meant to ask, yet for some reason, found it hard to phrase, like a piece of gum stuck in between his teeth, and he couldn't spit it out.

Hisoka was a mystery, and Illumi harbored many more questions, all stacked up neatly in his mental filing cabinet. But they were just left there to gather dust. What was he doing, seating there in comfortable companionship with a guy who he barely knew, was yet the biggest mystery of all.

"I live for the thrill of the moment. Life would be too boring if every day passes by the same as the last, wouldn't it? The adrenaline rush, the feel of blood gushing through my veins, the sound of my heart pumping resounding in my ears, that's when I feel alive." Hisoka licked his lips as if recalling the taste of the previous battle, and Illumi felt a dangerous burst of nen from him. Luckily Hisoka calmed himself quickly enough, and dumped his head into Illumi's lap. "But then, Illu-chan is too peaceful in nature to seek out these excitements, right?"

"I am very familiar with the feeling of having my life hanging on a thread, thank you."

"But you don't enjoy it. I do, though. And what could be better than watching your opponent grow, knowing that you've played a part in prompting them to the height of their potential, then crushing them at your feet?" Hisoka's eyes gleamed, and Illumi didn't like the intensity in them, making the magician's irises burn the colour of liquid crystals. He preferred the grey eyes he was used to seeing, the pair he showed to him, and to everybody else… Forget that, he hated them.

Illumi tried to stand up and shake himself off of these conflicting thoughts, but Hisoka refused to get go of his human pillow.

Exasperated, Illumi settled back. "So you like strong opponents. Then why do you not have the intention to battle with me? I don't think I am weaker than any of the Genei Ryodan members."

Hisoka looked up at him, his face inverted and distorted into a contemplating expression in Illumi's vision. "Hm… Never thought about that before…"

Why was he even bothering with this manic… Illumi shoved Hisoka's red-head off his thighs and stood up to go. Only to be grabbed by the ankles right before he was about to leap off, and ended up falling in a graceless heap on top of the magician.

"Now, now, Illu-chan, don't be hasty," Hisoka purred into his ear, sending goose bumps down Illumi's spine. Not the I-am-in-love type, but rather, the don't-make-me-puke type.

Hisoka kept his arms firm around the fidgeting Zoldick, and went on to explain, "You know, there are two types of fruits in the world. One, are those that you can see their potential to grow into the most delicious apple, and for these, I'll wait beside the tree for them to ripe. Then swallow them whole. The other type, are the apples growing on the tree I planted. I would water them, provide the fertilizers and spray pesticides, until they grow into the vision of perfectness in my mind, and I would then find a potion that can preserve them at their prime, forever for my viewing pleasure."

Illumi stared at the magician, his brows furrowing in a way Hisoka found absolutely adorable. "I am not a person for abstractness, Hisoka."

"Well, to put it simply, I have no intention of fighting you now, or ever." Twirling a lock of Illumi's hair between his fingers, Hisoka replied, feeling as if he was grooming a cat. And his little black kitten didn't seem happy at his answer.

"Even if I do this?" Illumi's voice wasn't threatening, just his normal soft tone with a spark of playful curiosity, but the pin he held with deadly accuracy against Hisoka's artery on the side of his neck was telling a different story.

Hisoka didn't even flinch, his nen flowing peacefully, barely noticeable. The clownish smile was intact, as he reached up lazily and wrapped his fingers around Illumi's slender hand, and brought it to his lips.

Illumi's pin fell into the grass, without a sound.

Trying to hide how shaken he was, Illumi averted his eyes and the topic. "What if… someone destroys your apple before you get to eat it?"

Hisoka's lips curled into a lopsided grin that reminded Illumi of the hunter exam, and how Hisoka stared at him when he threatened to kill Gon. He knew instinctively that Hisoka's card would be flying towards him if he dared move another step closer to the door. He had felt as if his heart was suddenly gripped in someone's hand, and it surely wasn't the effect of nen.

"Whoever it is, I guess that idiot isn't treasuring his life too much."

Illumi nodded curtly, and taking Hisoka by surprise with a kick that landed solidly on his side, the Zoldick escaped from the pair of strong arms binding him. And the next second, he was gone from sight.

"Ahh, he slipped through my fingers again…" Hisoka pouted in dismay, savouring the feel of Illumi's silken hair, still embedded in the memory of his fingertips.

......................................................

Illumi knocked on the heavy iron doors to his father's study. It was the time every month where he went to his father to accept new assignments.

"Come in, Illumi." Silva's voice resounded.

Being the eldest son, Illumi often had the first pick of the jobs, and as a responsible elder brother, he would take on the burden of dealing with those most dangerous ones. They just also happen to be the best-paying ones. As his eyes roamed over the job descriptions, the usually empty "Unsuitable" box had a rare occupant that day.

Illumi's hand twitched the slightest fraction upon seeing the photo. No longer caring about the bunch of papers in his hand, he randomly picked out a few, and placed the remaining on his father's desk. Then, as if by coincidence, saw the discarded offer.

Pointing to the "Unsuitable" box, he casually said, "I'll bring this out to shred."

"Sure, go ahead." Silva replied, failing to notice the slight waver in Illumi's hand as he picked up the paper, with Gon's smile shining up at him, so brightly that he felt momentarily blinded.

Punching the numbers into his cellphone was easy enough. Pressing the dial button similarly so. His voice was steady, with a hint of lightheartedness as usual when he confirmed the deal with the client. He had done these often enough that his body could go on autopilot.

His mind, however, was buzzing off like a broken TV, as shards of memories flashed on and off the screen. Hisoka's dangerous eyes, Killua's playful smiles, and the little boy who stared at him with all the determination in the world, to get his friend back from the "wicked older brother".

He didn't hate Gon, and even if he did, he hardly killed unnecessarily outside of jobs. Who'd want to work overtime anyway?

But he'd like to see the intensity in Hisoka's eyes again, this time directed solely on himself. It was hardly fair, that a kid who barely knew anything could command a side of the magician that had never been shown to him. Hisoka loved thrills, the bone-chilling excitement that made his hair stood on end more than anything else. Yet he couldn't even arouse one flint of aggression from Hisoka.

Was he not enough of a challenge? Could he never become the center of Hisoka's obsession with strong opponents? Would he always be just the backup after Hisoka ends a battle, and the hospital-like figure that he would think of once in a while, only when he's in trouble?

"_I have no intention of fighting you now, or ever."_

Then he will force Hisoka into having that intention.


	2. Chapter 2

**Lock of the Heart - Chapter 2**

"Ne, Gon, do you think that old geezer would let us go that easily?" Killua asked, contemplating their effortless escape from the castle-like mansion. He and Gon were still on the trail to find Jin, but over the years, the goal had only become more distant, and their lives had been wrapped up in adventure after adventure. This time, they found themselves somewhere in the middle of Europe, hurled mysteriously into a family feud of the most prestigious man in that continent.

"Mr. Shauner looks kind enough. I'm sure that he's thought through it, that love is something you can't force on someone else." Gon replied, in all his sunny and naïve glory.

They had only been planning on looking in the said multi-millionaire's treasure vault for an item that may have some connections to the group of ancient artifacts that Jin was rumoured to be protecting. But they had misjudged the vault's security level, and fell into the middle of a hoard of guards.

Luckily (or unfortunately), the leader of the guards happened to be the millionaire's daughter, who was already thirty, but immediately found Gon the most attractive guy on earth. Therefore, her daddy announced the engagement right away, with no consent from Gon, of course. So when the boy protested, the millionaire burst into hysterics (ah, another chance lost at sending his daughter away), and vowed that it was either marriage or death. Well, although both were similar choices, anyway.

"You are too simple-minded!" Killua sighed in exasperation. "Haven't you learned from all these years with me, that not everyone is how they seem on the surface?"

Gon laughed, "I am allowed to be simple-minded, because you're always beside me to do the worrying!"

"Argh! I'm going to teach you a lesson today, you brainless brat!" Killua shouted, and the boys started a wrestling match in the middle of the street, unaware of a fleeting shadow that disappeared behind the tallest building.

………………………………………

Illumi fiddled with one of his pin distractedly. It had been quite some time since he'd seen Killua, and the boy had done a lot of growing up, and so had his "friend". From the way they had fooled around, and the biggest smile Illumi had ever seen on his brother, he knew the bond between the two boys had developed hundreds of times stronger than before. The trick he used on Killua during the hunter exam wasn't going to work again. If he threatened Gon now, Killua would probably fight against him full force, even if it would cost him his life.

He had been right, that he should have killed Gon right after the hunter exam, to destroy the bud before it could bloom. If not for Hisoka.

Why did he always have to suffer from Hisoka's willfulness, directly or not? Illumi resisted the urge to sulk, and brought his mind back to the situation at hand.

For sure, going against Gon would be difficult, considering how powerful he had become. But the worse problem was Killua. He was going to face two opponents, not one, and it would be much easier if he were to kill both of them, rather than having to leave one dead and another alive.

His expertise was in the fastest and most accurate way to kill, not to splurge in piety and let the prey run loose, and wait for a stab in the back someday.

But no use pondering over too much unnecessary stuff, nothing could be certain unless you were in the real battlefield, and no amount of planning was better than quick responses, honed from years of experience in bloodshed. And from instincts, he knew that the job he was venturing into belonged to the high risk category. Maybe instead of killing Gon, he himself could be…

It would also be interesting to see Hisoka's expressions either way. How would the magician respond if he died? Would he regret not battling him? Would he mourn? Would he cry? Illumi thought with a twisted sort of satisfaction at the idea of filling the magician with remorseful emotions, of imagining him grieve for himself, at the chances they would've lost. Even if he would not live to see that.

Hurting Hisoka for the cost of his own life, Illumi never thought that he himself was such a sadist. But the notion of leaving a regret so huge that it would permanently scar Hisoka ran through his mind like a sweet poison, intoxicating him in it.

Illumi shook his head, trying to gather back his thoughts that had run astray, locking them in the little Pandora's Box and kick it to the deepest corner of his heart.

It was best to kill with a mind blank as paper.

………………………………………

Gon and Killua had noticed an eerie atmosphere shrouding the land ever since the sun had set. It wasn't anything that they had picked up, a hint of nen or anything, but the hairs on their arms were standing on end. It's those opponents whom you could not feel their nen the most fatal. So rather than being in the light and wait for a sudden attack from the enemy's advantageous position hidden in the dark, they preferred facing the battle right on.

With a glance at each other, an exchange of eye contact, the two boys stopped in their tracks in perfect unison and dashed towards the direction they felt the opponent was most likely to be hiding in.

Ten pins whizzed out at them from all directions, and the boys dodged them easily enough. The challenger didn't seem to be meant in hurting them with the pins, but rather to confuse their focus of direction. The pins had come from every direction, but they hadn't even sense the slightest movement.

Whoever it was… he's strong!

Since it was obviously no use trying to drag the person from the dark, when they couldn't even pinpoint his position, the boys settled in the middle of the clearing, back to back and initiating their ren in full anticipation of any attack.

Killua had an ill foreboding about this sudden attacker, more like a very familiar presence that wafted through the air, reminding him of…

"Is it you out there, Illumi-ni?" Killua suddenly shouted, and Gon could feel sparks of electricity leaping off his best friend. He had suffered too often from small electrocutes to be shocked anymore, but Killua's words still made him jump.

"Your brother?! But didn't your father agree to let you leave the house for good?!" Gon exclaimed, panicking. He whipped his head around to stare at Killua, battle stance all forgotten. And in that instant, a pin drove straight for his neck artery.

"GON!" Killua lashed out his yo-yo, and narrowly bumped onto the pin. Its course of direction was affected somewhat, but that didn't stop the pin from wiping a bloody cut on the side of Gon's neck.

"I see that you've improved, Killu." A soft voice drifted out from the darkness to their right, and then the shadows parted to reveal a head of luscious raven black hair. "But my aim today isn't to bring you back, you needn't worry. It's your little friend I'm looking for."

"What do you have to do with Gon?" Killua snarled, stepping half a step forward to shield his companion.

"What do you think we mean…" Illumi mused in an amused tone, and seemed to dissipate on the spot, as the moonlight cast in, and his voice drifted lighter and lighter, "when we say that we have something to do with someone? Have you been away so long as to forget our jargon?" And by the last syllable, Illumi was gone.

Gon recognized that as the camouflaging trick Killua often used, to blend yourself in with the surroundings, but with Illumi, it was as if he had really disappeared. The zetsu was only too perfect that it made the silence eerie.

Clash! The land was illuminated for a second in the deathly white burst of lightning, and rain began pouring down from the sky.

Killua's eyes sharpened with a deadly gleam, and he shot Gon a significant look. The black haired boy recognized the signal with slight alarm – Killua was tempting to try out that battle strategy, the one they had only talked about, but never tried. Things had never gotten risky enough to persuade Killua to attempt it, since the strategy itself was equally risky. This time… the timing was perfect.

Gon gave a curt nod, and as his eyes shone with determination and excitement, the nen around his body faded to nil. He was as vulnerable as a newborn baby in this state. And with one huge leap, he jumped into the air.

"Jan, Ken, GU!" Gon yelled, and fired a ball of nen with "paper" towards a random direction.

Illumi watched on in wary at the boy's apparently silly actions, opening himself completely to the enemy. It would be too simple to kill him, but at the same time, it was also too obviously a lure. Yet glancing at his younger brother standing at the side, the silver haired boy wasn't even moving.

But even if they had something up their sleeves, so what? So what if they had such enormous potentials that made Hisoka willing to wait for them to awaken, they were still far from matching up to him.

Illumi dashed out of the darkness, feeling as if he was having a grudge with Hisoka, and running into the trap just to show that he was stronger. How childish. Illumi made a silent note to himself that he was cutting off any connections with Hisoka after this.

Then again, he had made that mental note not less than a hundred times, and not one remained more than a week. He wondered why.

And he was behind Gon in a blink of the eye, a hand raised high, ready to chop down on the back of the boy's neck. It could cause fainting, concussions, disability or death, depending on how much strength he put into the attack. It was probably the easiest attack, and many people just ignore it in pursue of fancy tricks, but it was often the simplest and most straightforward actions that were the most effective.

Lightning flashed across the sky, lighting up the land for just enough time to let Illumi notice a flick in his brother's movements, and the next moment, all of the brightness in the night sky were drawn towards Illumi like metal to magnet, and the assassin was engulfed in a blinding fiery ball of electric energy.

Illumi gasped in shock, as the electricity tore through his veins, sending every cell of his body on strike. Then everything began to boil, and the contents in his body were fighting to break out of the constricting layer of skin.

Killua held his arms wide open, containing the electric field within his arms so all the power would be focused on the enemy.

"Maybe you should check more often on your little brother, to see exactly what your opponent's capable of, Illumi-ni. Have you forgotten father's teachings?" Killua flashed a seemingly-innocent smile, but his eyes were pure predatory. "But even if you are my family, if you dare to harm Gon, I won't hesitate to harm, mutilate, or kill…"

That little! Illumi glared at his rebellion of a brother through lightning distorted vision. He had no idea how he did it, but Killua had managed to divert all the lightning's electricity onto him.

Illumi noticed Gon wincing slightly behind Killua.

"Ne, Killua, let him go. He's your brother after all." His young prey was kind enough to beg for pardon for someone who wanted to kill him, how nice. Killua turned a little to face his friend, and Illumi saw the chance in his brother's slight distraction. Mustering up the last bit of energy, he threw a pin towards Killua's palm.

That amount of pain was far from making Killua lose his concentration and thus allowing Illumi to escape, but enough for the boy to flinch. A much better tactic than freeing himself crossed Illumi's mind, as he pushed forward through the electric field and made use of the fleeting distraction to clamp his hand on Killua's wrist, nails sharpened like knives that drew blood from the boy's arm.

Before Killua could react to struggle out of his grasp, and Gon hesitated whether to risk attacking while his friend was under hostage, Illumi dashed towards Gon with Killua as a shield, and swept his arm out in a smooth and surreptitious glide, barely coming into contact with Gon's back.

And it was over. Gon fell onto the ground like a limp doll, and Killua struck Illumi with his electric hands right at the centre of his chest. Illumi let go of his brother. He had achieved his purpose anyway.

As he turned away and fleeted back into the canopy of skyscrapers, Killua's heart-wrenching yell almost made him feel bad. Almost.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is NOT the last chapter! If you think that everything's fine after Hisoka gets his way... nope, Illu-chan isn't such an easy catch~~ And does anyone prefer lemon? I haven't written one in ages, so if you prefer it, I could upgrade the ratings... somewhere along the way. **

**Reviews appreciated~~**

**Lock of the Heart – Chapter 3**

**Prodigy Hunter Dead.** The newspaper headline read in bold, officious letters. Illumi quickly scanned the report, and finding that 50 percent of it was probably the reporter's fictitious mind at work, tossed the papers to the other side of the hotel room, in the process stretching his arm, and straining the muscles in his chest. He winced.

Killua's electricity attack was more powerful than he'd thought. Although he was used to electric means of torture as much as Killua was, he certainly didn't like it, nor use his body as a live electricity generator. The muscles for most part of his body were still in a state of shock, getting paralyzed and refusing to work at the most sudden moments.

At this state, he doubted he would be able to fight at his full extent against Hisoka. Who would probably be at his doorstep very soon, given the newspaper headline. If his father or Killua didn't beat him to it. Either way, things didn't look pretty. And he had put all these on himself, because of some silly urge get got when being with Hisoka.

He was getting the magician's influence and turning stupid.

Ding dong. The doorbell chimed merrily, and Illumi wondered absently which of the three choices it would be. But as he got closer to the door, the dark aura that seeped through the door's gaps, reeking with madness, unmistakably belonged to Hisoka.

While Illumi's mind was still contemplating on running away (a crazier than usual Hisoka was not to be tempered with), his hands had already grown a conscious of their own and twisted open the door knob.

"Yo, Illu-chan." Hisoka greeted with a maniacal grin, and no matter how handsome his face was, Illumi was always reminded of an asylum breakout. "I take that you already know Gon's dead."

Illumi nodded curtly. He had done that to provoke Hisoka, but now when the man's at his doorstep, he couldn't help feeling like a child who had done something wrong, and too guilty to face his parents. Therefore, he stayed at his doorway, unsure if he wanted Hisoka in his room, or rather, the embarrassment he'd suffer from if Hisoka refused to enter upon invitation.

But the magician made that decision for him, wrapping his arm around Illumi's much too slender waist, and guided the assassin into the room, clicking shut the door behind him.

Now in the privacy of the room, Hisoka leaned close, his breath tinkling Illumi's ear, and Illumi flinched away, both from the proximity and the smell of danger Hisoka was radiating. That must be why his heart was beating like a drum, simply because of his honed instincts against powerful opponents before a great battle. Nothing else.

"Ne, Illu-chan, you killed my little apple, didn't you?" Hisoka practically purred, nibbling Illumi's earlobe. Illumi shivered. "I knew it was you right after I saw the body. You shot a materialized pin into Gon's heart, right? It's always been your best trick, combining the Houshitsu kei and Gugenka kei abilities, shooting out your nen, and then letting it materialize into a needle after the nen had pierced through the opponent's body. It kills without trace, not even a wound."

"You saw right through me." Illumi replied flatly, trying to pull himself free from the leech Hisoka was becoming, but to no avail. And the assassin suddenly jumped, feeling something hot and wet against his neck.

That bastard licked him! Licked!

"If you're trying to avenge for your beloved prey by grossing the hell out of me, you are half way there." Illumi growled.

Hisoka's eyes sparkled in interest, "What makes you think that I'd want to take revenge?" All the while his hands kept wandering across Illumi's lithe body, venturing into sensitive areas.

"Because of the immense interest you have in him, and the way you kept all harm away from him, going as far as warning me back during the hunter exam. You see him as such a worthy opponent that you won't even take into consideration fighting against me. Doesn't that show that he has great importance in your heart? So naturally you'd want to take revenge on me." Illumi replied, swatting Hisoka's hand away from his hip.

"Hm…" Hisoka hummed, enjoying the warm and fuzzy smell of soap on Illumi's skin, and contemplating how he should react to get the most gain out of this sudden epiphany of Illumi's true feelings. So his little assassin was getting jealous of Gon…

He would be a fool if he didn't make use of this rare display of emotions from Illumi, and use it against him, to make his prey agonize in his mind games, and finally, fall into his trap. Hisoka loved hunting.

Letting go of Illumi all of a sudden (with some reluctance in his part), Hisoka put back on his vicious face and aura, and said to Illumi in a perverted merry way, "Then what are we waiting for?"

…………………………………………

Illumi stood five meters away in the field, facing Hisoka, with the strong wind persistently trying to mess up his hair. The lack of intensity in the "battlefield" would have put him to shame if others were to see that this was all the infamous Zoldick could muster. Yet he couldn't control himself from relaxing upon the sight of Hisoka. It seemed that the magician had bribed his nervous system, making them incapable of tensing up.

But he had to at least put up a good fight for this battle he had worked so hard to earn. He wanted to let Hisoka see him as a worthy opponent.

Another strong gust of wind blew by, sending Illumi's raven dark hair dancing in the air, and in the next instant, the assassin seemed to be also blown away by the wind, dissipating into thin air.

Hisoka smiled. "Too bad, Illu-chan. No matter how perfect your zetsu is, I can sense you wherever you are. Your presence alone is like a neon light flashing… calling for me to pounce on you…" And pounce he did, towards an apparently vacant spot, but his hands came into contact with a slender wrist, and Hisoka clamped down on it immediately.

Illumi didn't bother with hiding anymore, and swept out his leg, aiming for Hisoka's shoulder. The magician blocked it just in time with his other free hand, but Illumi shot out a handful of pins without a second to lose. Hisoka let go of his prey and leaped back, observing the pins' flight before dodging them in the last moment.

"Ne, Illu-chan, why won't you fight me more seriously, considering that it's you who forced me into this battle?" Hisoka mocked, "Do you honestly think that you could win by throwing pins with so little speed and intensity? If you keep this up, you'll get killed…"

"I didn't know that someone like you would kill for love. Tell me, was that boy really worth so much to you?" Illumi asked evenly, dark hair tousled by the wind. _Did the boy have more value than me?_ Was the unvoiced question.

Hisoka merely smiled enigmatically, and totally ignored the question. "Illu-chan, don't you think it's a little unsightly for us to fight around like a couple of mad dogs?" Hisoka's eyes gleamed hungrily, not for blood (as Illumi had seen that enough times to tell), but rather, as if he had become a tasty dish, that Hisoka was dying to devour.

"What are you suggesting?" The assassin could feel the hairs on his arm bristling.

"That we do this in a light-hearted way. We'll just take turns attacking each other, until one of us couldn't take it anymore and surrenders. And the person on the receiving end cannot put up defenses. Nice and easy, eh?"

Illumi felt his stomach lurch. "That's slaughtering, not fighting. Besides, if we cannot retaliate, I'll be at a disadvantage simple because of physical differences."

"Hm… You have a point." Hisoka furrowed his brows and pretended to be stumped. "How about you hit me three times, and I'll attack you once?"

"You're wasting my time. If you don't intend to battle, just leave." No matter how he looked at it, Illumi felt that Hisoka was only playing tricks on him, evasion and a bunch of incomprehensible words, and weird choices that left his thoughts in a knot, jumbled up in his mind.

"That will not do. I still have to avenge Gon, don't I?" Hisoka said merrily to the leaving Illumi, and tugged on his nen. Illumi almost tripped, feeling the sudden jerk on his leg and arm, only to find that Hisoka had stuck some of his Bungee Gum on him, probably during the previous exchange.

"How about I let you choose? It's either three attacks for you and one for me, or three for me and one for you. Which do you prefer?"

Illumi narrowed his eyes, flicking out a couple of pins between his fingers. He wanted to shoot the pins out, just to test if Hisoka was serious about what he said, if only his hands would stop shaking. It was not vigorous nor visible, just thin tremors, but enough to differentiate between life or death for an assassin.

Yes, he was an assassin. He just had to move as he always did. Illumi closed his eyes, then snapped them open, as the pins flew out of his hands at the same time.

Hisoka just stood there, not moving an inch, as the pins buried themselves in his shoulder. There was no blood, but the muscles around the targeted area started to distort eerily. Hisoka kept smiling.

Illumi never knew that he could be disgusted by human muscles tangling and knotting, writhing beneath the skin, a sight he had gotten used to for years. "I'll let you hit me three times." He announced quietly. If he raised his voice, he was afraid he would throw up.

"Then here I go." Hisoka responded in glee, dashed forward, and in a second, landed two punches and a kick on Illumi's stomach, chest and leg. Illumi knew Hisoka wasn't letting him go easy, as he heard his bones cracking. Usually this degree of injury couldn't even make him feel pain, but perhaps because of the electric shock Killua inflicted on him previously, the strike on the chest hurt like hell. It hurt so much that his heart was threatening to stop beating.

He coughed, and spat out some blood.

"It's your turn now, Illu-chan." Hisoka hurried, his smiley façade without even a crack.

Illumi lifted his gaze to the man who he knew would kill him without hesitation, if the attacks just now weren't enough of a proof. He tried mustering up some hate, some intention to kill, but failed so miserably that he began to doubt if all his life he'd been a saint instead of a assassin.

All he felt, if he still had any energy to, was a low, burning bitterness at himself, for doing the most obviously stupid thing in the world by killing Gon. Hisoka had made it blatantly clear that he was no match to the boy in terms of meaning something to the magician, but he just had to go try.

"What's wrong, Illu-chan? Not attacking anymore?" Hisoka approached, smugness painted all over his face. "Why, are you afraid of hurting me?"

"Do whatever you want." He had no intention of fighting anymore. It was useless anyway.

"Really?" Hisoka stalked even closer, and wrapped an arm around Illumi's shoulder, guiding him to sit beside a boulder. "Ne, Illu-chan, did it hurt when I punched you?"

Illumi glared at him. He did do something stupid, but that did not mean he was going to answer a question meant for the mentally disabled.

"So where did it hurt?" Hisoka continued, his hands running up Illumi's leg, "not here," to his abdomen, "not here either," then finally to his chest. "It's here, isn't it?"

"Killua electrocuted me here." Illumi answered flatly, feeling ticklish as Hisoka's hand rubbed against the injured spot.

"Is that the only reason? Doesn't it feel like someone's clamping down on your heart whenever you try to attack me? Why do you want to battle against me, when you can't bear to hurt me? And why does it bother you so that I care about Gon?" Hisoka almost cooed, gently lifting up the strands of hair that blocked Illumi's face from view. "Don't tell me… you don't know what all these mean."

Illumi frowned, turning to look at Hisoka. "You mean that I like you?"

Hisoka's smile became wider if possible. "Like? That's too weak. How about infatuation? Obsession? Hm… that sounds like a stalker. Passion? That ends too fast. Crazy about me? That's too colloquial. How about – "

"Shut up!" Illumi snapped. Hisoka's ranting was giving him a headache, and goosebumps. I love you, is that enough?"

"More than enough." Hisoka replied, and promptly leaned down to seal Illumi's lips. Just in case his new-found lover changed his mind.

…………………………………………….

Illumi flopped down on the bed, wondering idly, as the sound of the showers rained through his mind. So he loved Hisoka all along? That could explain a lot of things, but he still couldn't help feeling tricked, as if he'd fallen into a trap, and had already been eaten alive without the tiniest realization.

Suddenly, he felt a buzzing from his pocket, and took out his cellphone. There weren't many people in the world who knew his cellphone number, much less familiar acquaintances who dared to disturb him with spam messages.

Looking at the sender, Illumi was more than surprised. It was Killua.

Was his brother setting a date to duel it out? Illumi clicked open the message.

_Come to St. Joseph's Hospital next week at 7 pm. Check the front reception for my name_. That was all the message said. No reason or explanations whatsoever.

Should he go? It sounded way too much like a hoax. But he owed his brother at least so much.

"Illu-chan, can you pass me my pants?" Hisoka called from the bathroom. Illumi sighed in exasperation. He admit he liked Hisoka, but someday his eyes were going to be scarred by this guy's lack of humility.


End file.
